Normally, a selective call receiver (e.g., a pager), upon receiving a message, stores the message in memory for review at a later time. Received messages are typically stored into message storage slots in memory organized sequentially in chronological order. For example, messages may be stored by their relative arrival sequence, such as in a first-in-first-out sequence where the oldest message is presented first to a user. Alternatively, the messages may be presented in a last-in-first-out sequence (i.e., in reverse chronological order), where the newest message is presented first to the user. A selective call receiver would present a sequence of received messages to the user in one of these ways, which the user must understand and logically follow.
Clearly, the number of message storage slots are limited by the available memory. For example, a selective call receiver may be capable of storing up to five messages before running out of memory. Thus, when the message storage slots are full (i.e., five messages are stored), new messages may be stored at the expense of deleting older messages. One such method currently used is to delete the oldest message to accommodate a newly received message. Unfortunately, if a user wishes to review an older message, it may have been automatically deleted.
Current integrated circuit technologies have increased memory capacity. As a result, selective call receivers can store more messages. This significantly reduces the need for automatically deleting messages. However, users tend to find it more difficult to retrieve or locate a desired message for the following reasons. First, the sheer number of stored messages increases beyond a manageable level. This makes it more difficult for users to keep track of stored messages. Second, users tend to randomly read and delete messages, and a newly received message is usually placed in the first available message storage slot. Hence, selective call receiver users may not be able to easily determine the time priority of the received messages or where the latest received message was stored.
For example, FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C show a display 100 for presenting messages to a user of a selective call receiver. This display 100 is representative of a display used in the Motorola PMR 2000 alphanumeric display message pager manufactured by Motorola, Inc. of Schaumburg, Ill. In that pager, up to sixteen messages can be stored and displayed. In this illustrative example, however, up to twelve messages are shown, being represented by up to twelve message indicators 102 on a status screen of the display 100. A pointer 103 indicates to the user which message is currently being selected for display. In this example, the pointer 103 is pointing to message one. By pushing buttons on the pager the user can advance the pointer 103 through the sequence of message indicators 102 displayed. In this way, the user can push buttons to point to a desired message and then to display the selected message.
The message indicator 102 representing a message stored in message storage slot number eleven is not blinking. This indicates to the user that the message was previously read by the user. On the other hand, the message indicator 104 representing a message stored in message storage slot number seven is blinking. This indicates that the message was not read. Additionally, a lock icon 106 corresponding to a message storage slot, such as message storage slot number two, indicates that the particular message has been protected and will not be overwritten when a new message is received. That is, the user typically considers this message important and protects the message for future reference. The protect status on the message guards against the message being automatically deleted by the pager when a new message is received. However, the user is capable of selectively deleting undesired messages from the pager memory. For example, message storage slot number three was previously deleted as indicated by the blank space 108 for the corresponding position on the status screen. In this way, each message stored in the pager is assigned an individual message status, such as "read message", "unread message", and "protected message".
The status screen in this example normally organizes the message indicators 102 from left to right in chronological order. The user then can advance the pointer 103 through the sequence to view the messages in a first-in-first-out sequence. However, as the user deletes messages and new messages are subsequently received, such as receiving new message 110 and then new message 120, the messages can be presented to the user in a non-chronological sequence. This makes it difficult for a user to understand the order of messages being presented and to distinguish between old and new messages.
In the previous example, the method used by the selective call receiver for presenting messages to the user can make it difficult for the user to keep track of stored messages. First, the chronological order of presenting messages can be corrupted. This is mainly due to the user randomly deleting or protecting individual messages. The selective call receiver would subsequently store new messages in the available message storage slots and present the messages out of sequence. Second, the messages being presented are not grouped in any particularly meaningful way. Message status categories, such as "read message", "unread message", and "read and protected message", are meaningful to the user. However, the messages being presented are not arranged to take advantage of these message categories. The messages are typically presented in some form of chronological order. Hence, when the chronological order is corrupted the user may find it difficult if not impossible to keep track of the stored messages. This problem is significantly aggravated as the number of stored messages increase.
Thus, what is necessary is a method for presenting stored messages that enables a selective call receiver user to quickly and easily determine the time priority and the organization of the messages stored in memory.